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Sunday, July 10, 2011

The current model for the International
Society of Family History Writers and Editors Excellence
in Writing Competition involves the payment of an entry fee and the award of a small cash prize to the winner in each category. Historically this:

Covered the costs of copying and distributing the entries to all judges via paper and snail mail. (This has been changed to electronic submissions beginning in 2012.)

Provided for the cash prizes to the top entry in each category.

Here are the anticipated entry fees:

Between 1 March – 15 April

Included is my
entry fee ($7.50 per entry for ISFHWE members)

Included is my entry fee ($10.00 per entry for
Non-Members)

Between 15 April – 3 June NO entries accepted
after 3 June 2012

Included entry fee
($10.00 per entry for ISFHWE members)

Included entry fee ($12.50 per entry for
Non-Members)

ISFHWE membership dues are $15 ($US) annually.

WHY I FAVOR NO ENTRY FEES FOR BLOG JUDGING

Entry fees discourage submissions. Only writers with disposable income are likely to submit their work. This effectively precludes nominations by followers.

The cost of judging the contest has been reduced since submissions and aggregating scores will be done electronically.

Isn't a "Good Houskeeping" seal from ISFHWE more valuable than a small cash award?

ISFHWE isn't a for-profit organization. We have no product to sell. Wouldn't an Excellence in Writing Award with accompanying award logo suffice be a true award of merit?

WHAT IF?

What
if we didn't charge for submitting entries in the blog category as they
do in the usual ISFHWE writing contest? What if we didn't award cash
prizes? Might we then have more participants? What if someone other
than the author submits a blog, blog post or blog series for
consideration?

The best question is:

Will Ol' Myrt's email in-box ever get emptied?

We've got to start somewhere, and your feedback in comments is greatly appreciated.